Machine for preparing welting.



A. EPPLER. MACHINE FOR PREPARING WELTING.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 25,1915. I I

Patented Oct. 17, 1916.

hfiinssas;

Inventor.

flaw 9 r i s s rarer or ANDREW EPPLER, OF LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNORTO UNITED SHOE MACHIN- ERY COMPANY, OF PA'IERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

MACHINE non rnnrenms' WELTING.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Oct. 1'? 1916.

Application filed January 25, 1915. Serial no. 4,332,

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, ANDREW EPPLER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lynn, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Preparing \Velting; and I do hereby declare welting suitable for usein the manufacture of shoes may be prepared from a strip of leather without removing any of the grain side of the leather strip.

With this object in view, the invention consists of a grooving and beveling machine provided with means for supporting and I guiding a leather strip and having grooving and beveling knives constructed, arranged and supported as hereinafter described and claimed.

The present invention will be clearly understood from. the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawing in which Figure 1 is a view in 'end elevation of a welt grooving and beveling machine embodying the invention in its preferred form; Fig. 2 is a'detail sectionalplan view illustrating the manner in which the leather strip is supported and guided, and also the manner in which the beveling knife is mounted and its relation to the strip guiding means and grooving knife; and Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the completed welting.

The machine illustrated in the drawing is adapted to operate upon a leather strip of indefinite length and of a width equal to the width of the grooved and beveled welting which isto be produced. The leather strip, indicated at 1, is supported, during its passage to the machine, by means of a bed plate or table 2 over which the strip, after being inserted in the machine, is drawn by the operator by hand. The table 2 is provided with an upstanding ledge or shoulder indicated-at 3' whichforms a guide for one edge of the strip. The other edge of the stripis engaged and guided by a plate 4 securedto the table 2 by screws 5 passing through slots in the plate so as to p'ermita lateral adjustment of the plate toward and from the ledge 3 to accommodate leather strips of different widths. The plate 4: is provideo. with a lateral extension 6 which extends over the strip 1 so as to form, in connection with'the table 2 and the'two edge guides, a

closed guide-wav for the strip as it enters the machine. The leather, strip, as it is drawn through the machine, is held down firmly'against'the table; 2 by means of a presser foot 7 formed on the lower end of the slide 8 mounted in vertical guide-ways inthe overhanging head of the machine frame 9. This slide is acted upon by a spring 10 connecting a pin 11 at the upper end of the slide 8 with apin 12 on the frame of the machine. By means of this spring, the presser foot is held yieldingly against the leather strip and is allowed to rise and fall to accommodate'any irregularities in the thickness of the strip.

'The grooving and beveling knives of the machine are indicated respectively at 13 andv 14. The grooving knife is held in a,

so as to cut a groove of any desired depth in the welt and, by reason of the fact that the grooving knife is mounted upon the presser foot, the knife and foot are maintained in fixed relative position during the operation of the machine, anda groove of uniform depth is formed" throughout the length of the strip regardless of inequalities in the thickness of the strip.

The beveling knife 14 is also mounted on the presser foot so as to rise and fall therewith and thus the bevel cut on the strip by the knife is of uniform width throughout the length of the strip and has a fixed definite relation to the groove in the strip. The bev eling knife extends across the inner edge of the strip and is arranged to cut a bevel eX- tending from near the groove to the inner edge of the strip. The relation of the bevel to the groove is clearly shown in Fig. 3. in which the bevelis. indicated at 18 and. the groove at 19. In preparing welting it is usual to cut the groove in the flesh side of the leather strip and it will be seen from an inspection of Fig. 3 that in the welting produced by the'machine of the present invention, both' the groove 19 and the bevel 18 are on the'flesh side ofthe strip so that the grain side 20 of'the strip is left intact from edge to edge of the strip. The welting illustrated 'in Fig. 3 is intended for use in the manufacture of Goodyear welt shoes, the groove 19 being adapted to receive the stitches of the inseam and the thin edge produced by the bevel 18 being adapted to be bent; intothe shoulder of the insole. WVith the welt grooved and'beveled'as in Fig. 3, the stitches of the inseam will pass through the strong grain surface of the leather andthere will be no break in this surface to detract from the appearance of the finished shoe as is sometimes the case when the ordinary form of weltingis used in which a portion of the grain side of the leather strip is cut away in forming the bevel. The cutting edge of the beveling knife acts on the edge of the welt strip close to the presser foot as clearly shown in Fig. 2 'so that the strip is acted upon by the knife when under complete control of the pres'ser foot and table 2. The beveling knife is secured in a split clamp formed on the end of a short shaft 21 mounted in a split bearing in the presser foot and clampedtherein by a clamping screw '22. This. construction permits an angular adjustment of the beveling knife and also a longitudinal adjustment of the knife in the direction of feed. Inasmuchas the beveling knife is mounted on the presser foot, it is maintained in fixed position. with relation to the presser foot and grooving knife throughout the operation of the machine so that a uniform bevel is produced and the thickness of the portion of the strip between the beveled surface 18 and the groove 19 is maintained constant.

To permit the presser foot, grooving knife, and beveling knife to be raised away from the table 2 when'the leading end of the strip 1 is inserted in the machine, a cam 23, provided with a handle 24, is mounted on. the pin 11' at the upper end' of the slide 8 and is a'rrangedto bear against the upper portion of the machine frame.

The'nature'and object of the present invention having been indicated, and a ma chine embodying the invention in its preferred form having been specifically described, what is claimed is 1. A Welt grooving and'beveling machine having, in combination, a grooving knife, a beveling knife arranged to act on the Same side and near thesame edge of a welt strip as the grooving knife, and cut a bevel slantingfrOmJ near the groove tothe' edge of the strip and means engaging both sides of the Welt strip and" extending into close proximity to the beveling knife for guiding the strip and holding it in position to be acted upon by the knives.

'2; A welt grooving and beveling machine having, in combination, a grooving knife, means for guiding a welt strip past the grooving knife in position to be acted upon near one edge by the knife, a beveling knife arranged to act on the same side and near the saine edge of the stripas the grooving knife,andg cut a bevel slanting fromnear the groove to the edge of the strip, and a yieldingly mounted pi'esser foot engaging the strip and carrying both knives.

ANDREl/V EPPLER.

WVitnesses CHESTER E. ROGERS, LAURA MT. GoonRIDeE.

Copies of this patent maybe obtainedifor five cents each, by; addressing theflcommissioner of Patents, Washington; D. 0. 

